


Road to Checkmating

by Nezanie



Series: Monochrome week 2019 [2]
Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F, team bonding turns to mono bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-13
Updated: 2019-02-13
Packaged: 2019-10-27 15:44:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17769620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nezanie/pseuds/Nezanie
Summary: Coordinating wasn’t easy for Blake and Weiss. Blake suggests they try to put themselves in each others shoes in a panic and one thing leads to another. (Monochromeweek 2019, Day 2: Weapon Swap)





	Road to Checkmating

**Author's Note:**

> it's day 2 and I'm slightly cliche i guess.

Yang leaned in to look down at her partner with a sympathetic look, her arms crossed over and brow quirked inquisitively. Blake didn’t move, arms spread away from her body and in no particular hurry to have her butt nearly burned off again. Her chest heaved frantically as she tried to catch her breath, the sweat made her hair cling to her forehead and it was irritating her. She wanted to give up, call it a day, run her beloved shower. Everything was getting her on edge truthfully after hours of failure. 

 

“Alright there partner?” Yang smiled encouragingly trying to lend her a hand. Blake waved her off nodding towards the other two.

 

Yang huffed extremely bored, “She’s fine, looking determined unlike someone I know,”

 

She closed her eyes ignoring the others remarks and concentrating on the ebbing burn in her chest. Yang resisted the urge to kick her and instead tried to tap in her patience to provide any encouraging words she could think of, “Maybe, you’re just not thinking of each other enough, not connecting or something,”

 

Blake’s eyes flickered open, wide with shock as she turned quickly to Yang who had to hold in a snicker.

 

“We’re not  _ what _ ?” Blakes face was priceless.

 

“I meant in combat,  _ lover girl _ ,” her shoulders bobbed up and down with laughter at Blake’s expense.The poor victim of her own misunderstanding slumped back down, her head hitting the concrete hard. Her face contorted with frustration and pain from the mishap. The huntress in making was definitely too tired for this. 

 

“Connecting,” she grumbled, “Did you go through Ports metaphor notebook or something for that one,”

 

Glancing at the other pair, she saw Weiss was crouched her hand on her knees. She didn’t seemed to be faring better and her brow was furrowed with concentration. The usual poise and elegance forgotten in frustration and the need to conserve energy. Yang smirked and Blake caught it from the corner of her eye moving her head to give her a warning glance. She received a stuck out tongue in return. 

 

“I need a shower,” Blake whimpered, taking the hand offered to her and groaning extravagantly as she was helped back onto her feet. She could hear their leader’s supportive cheering and the sigh as  the response. It seemed Weiss was enthusiastic as she was with the training’s development.

 

“Well,” Ruby murmured catching up to them with Weiss slinkering not too far off behind her.

 

“I’ll practice a bit more,” Weiss rumbled looking rather cross. Ruby cringed looking at her sister for help and got back only a small shrug. ‘She’s your partner,’ Yangs face seemed to say. She’d rather come check up on her later anyway when it was more probable Weiss would have given up or succeeded..

 

There was that pigheaded scowl Weiss wore when she wouldn't be swayed, Ruby seemed to notice it wouldn’t be fruitful to stop her too. She’d follow Yang to make sure she was okay later. Ruby looked at the two other older girls pitifully and Blake relented watching Weiss slip away away from the group. She couldn’t lie to herself, she was concerned about her just as her partner was. And she was annoyed, staying could solve one or both her problems.

 

“I’ll stay too,” she said gaze fixed on the heiress earnestly thrusting at thin air. What she hoped to accomplish, none of them knew. Blake wondered if it was just to release the pent up frustration. 

 

“You sure?” Yang followed her eyes and her own seemed to light up with a sudden realization. “You two haven’t been alone, not after the whole ‘i don’t care’ drama and patch up we had,”

 

“Drama and patch up?” Blake questioned her choice words but dropped the subject, “We’ve...talked,”

 

“Yeah, you’ve stood by each other’s side exchanging weather reports,” Yang looked proud of herself, golden eyes glaring daggers at her. It was true, it wasn’t funny. At least not for the awkward Blake.

 

Ruby snickered behind her sister, Blake could feel her face burning with shame at the recollection. She just didn’t know what to say to Weiss. Least of all she had no idea what to expect anymore from Weiss, who kept her word and tried her best to be fair and square. That was new, nobody ever kept their word usually. It was a wonderful change of pace.

 

Frankly, Blake felt like she had to try harder watching the girl go at it. It wasn’t just so the both of them could have some alone time. At least in part. Sometimes she seemed to linger beside her, fidgeting on the spot, blue eyes peeking at Blake uncharacteristically shy, as if she wanted to ask something but was afraid to. Similarly, Blake wasn’t sure if she should prompt her and they never went beyond the classic,  _ ‘lovely day today isn’t it? Sunny and Warm!”  _

 

“I’ll let you borrow Weiss,” Ruby grinned wiping tears from her eye and loosening the puppy eye glance. Blake nodded, smiling as Ruby started walking her way back to the dorms, she waved at Weiss before jogging along. Blake squeaking as a hand slapped her on her back and resumed giving her own partner the stink eye.

 

“Try to hold a real conversation with her this time, it hurts to watch buddy,” Yang said slapping a hand on her shoulder this time, “We know she’s a looker but you gotta at least learn to conjugate a sentence in her presence if you wanna get in her good graces, let alone ask her out,”

 

Blake spluttered at the implication, “I just wanna…Me and her? Yang that’s! I mean, I guess I’m curious because she’s weird.” A nervous laugh escaped her, “Getting all worked up to unlearn all the shit she’d give the Faunus just like that but...”

 

Yang snorted, grabbing her shoulder and pressing her to her side, “Just like that? Nah, she was listening to her teammate wasn’t she? Isn’t that a sign of trust?”

 

Blake opened her mouth without finding the right words to say and closed it immediately. Weiss pushed her rapier effortlessly cutting the air with an upward motion. An emotion Blake couldn’t describe bubbled in the pit of her stomach. Beads of sweat were accumulating along her fringe and it made her look like her skin was glowing.  _ ‘Maidens, I sound like a pathetic protagonist of a second rate romance novel, _ ’ 

 

“I...damn, she really is hot when she does that,” Blake admitted, causing Yang to squeal and squeeze her some more.

 

“Oh, gods, yeah, totally,” she agreed earning a protective glance from Blake, “Oh calm down tiger, we’re saying it with all the respect and love of a supportive partner who is rooting for you.” Yang paused nodding appreciatively, Weiss had removed her usual jacket hoping to cool down unbeknownst of the stares she was getting, “God those shoulder blades though,”

 

“Yeah,”

The pair chuckled earning a curious glance from the hard working heiress.

 

“I’m playing you Yang, don’t worry, I got this,” Blake chuckled pulling Yang’s waist towards her own. Yang beamed at her before slipping away. “At least I’ll make sure she doesn’t kill herself,”

 

“Yeah you got it Blakey, go get your weissypine,” she laughed, making her fingers into guns and flicking them at Blake.

 

Blake groaned at the pet name, “Yeah, sure, you’re lucky she didn’t hear you,”

 

With a wink Yang was off, running to reach her sister and ruffle her hair a bit for leaving her behind. Blake was left with the dilemma of what she should do exactly with the other girl who seemed intent to train until she passed out.

 

The first thing she did was gulp down her fear of the moment she noticed they were finally alone. It was Weiss who broke the silence, feeling her presence and stare as Blake huddled towards her looking uncertain.

 

“Are you going to just stand there? You could go back with them you know,” she sniffled lowering her weapon. Her breathing was level but the exhaustion was clearly setting in and it took less out of her to have her panting for air.

 

“It’s not like you can practice a team attack without a team,” Blake snarked, noticing the twitch her reply had caused the shorter girl. Ice flower and bumblebee were already in the finalising process. It was checkmating that didn’t seem to have any luck. 

 

“I was just going to go over some forms,” she defended, her voice couldn’t mask the slight hurt, “I mean, I almost roasted you, and uh...sorry about that,”

 

Blake walked closer, her hands in her pockets, “It’s not your fault Weiss, we just have to keep practicing,” 

 

“It won’t do us good if we practice without knowing what we’re doing wrong, so I might as well check my own flaws,” she protested.

 

It was hard to stop the urge of rolling her eyes and she knew Weiss probably wouldn’t like it. Testy as they both were it was best to thread carefully. Blake’s hand was moving towards to small of her back, a supportive gesture instinctive without even thinking it through. She almost gawked when Weiss turned to her, her hand shot back down and she rubbed her knuckles awkwardly to hide the motion.

 

“I, ugh,” she stammered, Weiss eyes narrowed suspiciously. ‘ _ Think you fool think, _ ’

 

“I may help,” she said with too much enthusiasm, “I’m half of the problem, maybe if we knew each other’s moves better,” She moved to unsheathe gambol shroud and observed her blade, an idea sparking in her mind and Blake decided to go with the flow of the moment. What could go wrong? “Maybe if we learned to fight with each other’s style, we could figure out how to stop accidentally stabbing and, or burning each other?”

 

_ ‘Three sentences plus, this is progress _ ,’ Blake thought cheerfully, although the subject wasn’t exactly fun or romantic. That could wait for later.

 

“I guess,” Weiss seemed to mull over the suggestion, her hand on her chin and her eyebrows furrowed in concentration. Blake caught herself staring, thinking it was cute. Weiss took everything so seriously, she gave it her all always. Blake thought that was incredible.

 

“It’s worth a try,” she said swiftly turning her Myrtenaster hilt for Blake to take. With a nod of encouragement, she made to take it, Weiss hand pulled it back a little. Blake looked up, expression a touch puzzled and afraid she had done something wrong.

 

“Take care of Myrtenaster, it’s...special to me,” she confided looking a little bashful, “We’ve been through a lot together, saved me many times,”

 

Blake smiled at the display and offered her own katana. She remembered Yang’s words, on how Weiss was pulling no stops to trust them, to trust Blake and she couldn't help but feel a little coy, “Likewise, Gambol’s saved my skin plenty of times, we feel the same,”

 

Weiss head bopped up, her eyes shone with an emotion that seemed half surprise and half something she couldn’t quite decipher. It looked like a positive one so she tried to keep her smile up and avoid the awkwardness. It didn’t take long for her to berate herself as their fingers touched with the exchange her face feeling hot a little too quickly. Weiss seemed unhindered, not noticing that her training partner seemed to be patting her own cheeks for a moment.

 

At first, her eyes linger on Weiss who tried out a few forms with her katana. Surprisingly she had shifted her body and moved much differently than when she wielded her own weapon. The motions were correct, textbook perfect even but Blake noticed them feeling rather stiff. She would easily be parried and eventually her weapon would fly off her hand if she fought like that. 

 

“You’re...pretty good,” Blake didn’t notice she had whistled up until Weiss whirled round, hair bobbing, indignant at the sound. Her face had reddened and it gave her sheepish partner a little courage in knowing she wasn’t the only one reacting to the others antics, presence or very being.

 

The heiress coughed, regaining composure, “I was instructed on a number of different weapons before I settled on a rapier, I tried long arms but…” she grumbled sulking, “I’m a little to short for them apparently,”

 

“Sounds like bullshit,”

 

“They wanted an elegant weapon for the Schnee heiress,” she sneered deftly bringing Gambol to her chest, taking her signature pose, “As if looking pretty could give you brownie points with Grimm and riff-raff, right?”

 

“Totally, they give monthly freebies for the most graceful enemies don’t you know,” Blake giggled, tone fake mocking.

 

Blake snickered along with Weiss whose posture was already visibly more relaxed. Blake thanked her stars she was having some positive effect on the girl. Perhaps she could convince her to retire soon enough, although she wanted to squeeze out all the luck for her day that she could with this opportunity to talk. Weiss returned to her stance almost immediately leaving Blake more than disappointed. Her ears flickered as a thought passed through her mind, may the gods forgive her for taking a teensy bit of advantage of the situation. Blake took the plunge to at least - in her mind she excused her behaviour like so - that it was all to keep the flow of the discussion going.

 

“You’re awfully stiff though,” Blake put a hand on her hip observing her from head to toe as she executed some more warm up moves. Moving around her, Weiss eyes peeked at her every now and then, Blake noted she seemed a little jumpy under scrutiny. Blake’s lips twitched upwards, she managed to keep her expression neutral thankfully.

 

“I suppose I can’t be as agile as you,  _ yet _ ,” she retorted, ever the stickler for perfection and perfusing with confidence. Weiss managed to keep her voice down, she did jolt as Blake’s hands grabbed her hips but otherwise didn’t seem to react any further as the taller girl moved her a little adjusting her positioning. 

 

“You do it,” Blake whispered next to her ear, she was rewarded with a pink hue taking over her cheeks and ears, “like this,”

 

“Oh,” Weiss mumbled in surprise, the motion came much more smoothly and easily, “t-thanks?”

 

Blake stepped away rubbing her neck, she tried to smile nonchalantly but she was probably blushing just as much as the other. She wondered what had taken over her, then again recalling the adorable reaction she got out of Weiss made it all the more worth it.

 

“I can give you other pointers too, you’ll be dual wielding in no time,” Weiss seemed to light up at the praise and Blake couldn’t help but grin foolishly. On the other hand, when she turned her gaze to the weapon at hand she felt lost. She’d never had the time to practice anything else but her own style of weapon. She’d played with it, fiddled with the katana until she could effortlessly perform the moves she had in mind and take advantage of her swiftness. Blake didn’t have the luxury to try out anything else. 

 

Weiss seemed to notice her predicament and tapped her lightly on the shoulder, snapping her out of her thoughts, “How about I show you the basics with a rapier in return?” 

 

“Yeah,” she replied, smiling down at the finger pulling her own index, “Sounds like we’ve got a deal.” The action spurred a little bit of courage from Blake, who took the action as an invitation to take Weiss hand in hers. The tender look Weiss gave her as she squeezed her hand made her take the next step. ‘ _ Nothing to lose at this point Belladonna, go for it’ _ . She could almost hear Yang cheering.

 

“How about we sign it off with a cup of tea and some lunch involved?” she blurted tensing expecting the worst.

 

Weiss seemed to falter, the implication hung in the air and there was no room for doubt. “Are you sure, Blake,I…” She looked around as if to confirm she was the one being addressed, I’m flattered but I’m a Schnee, that will never change, you know that right?”

 

Blake ears fell disappointingly, the insecurity settling in like a stomachache waiting to happen and pushing her into a cold sweat. Her voice was small, piteous even, “You don’t want to? I mean, we could start as friends?”

 

Weiss took her other hand and sighed, “That’s not fair Blake, I’m obviously trying to avoid getting either of us hurt. I...I  _ care _ about us,”

 

“Isn’t it worth the risk?” Blake laughed, incredulous at her own words, “Weiss, I’m a big girl, I can take rejection, it’s okay. If, by any not even close to remote chance, it’s about our families, I, and I’m about to quote someone we both know very well -  _ I don’t care _ ,”

 

Weiss snorted glowering at their feet and avoiding eye contact, Blake tapped the tip of her foot with hers. A little smile escaped the heiress and the faunus felt quite proud of herself.Even if rejection would sting, she didn’t want to regret not trying anymore.

 

“That’s the most absurd thing you’ve ever come up with,” Weiss grumbled, feigning ignorance. She frowned, biting her lip, “I’m scared, Blake, this is...big,”

 

Blake pulled her into her chest, her arms enclosing her smaller frame, making sure the weapons pointy ends wouldn’t hurt either of them, “I know, me too, I’m completely terrified. I’d still like to try, I like you Weiss, I want to know more about you. Your likes. What you hate. What your favourite cartoon character was at 3 years old. All the silly stuff. You don’t have to answer me right now, I’m just asking you to give it a thought,”

 

Weiss arms stood limply by her sides as she listened, something seemed to catch her off guard jolting. Blake might be better with words than she thought. Weiss hands came up, the one she didn’t have Gambol in clawed at Blake’s jacket. She made sure to keep Gambol’s blade away from Blake’s back putting them in a strange hugging posture considering Blake was doing the same with her rapier, “Thanks Blake, I think I’d like to give it a go. Would it be okay, to give it a try?”

 

Blake pushed her at arm's length looking her straight in the eye, scrutinising, “Are you sure?”

 

The other girl pursed her lips, “Are we going to question each other at every little step we take?”

 

“Guess so, it’s a bit unbelievable,” 

 

Weiss seemed to agree, taking a step forward and letting her forehead rest on Blake’s shoulder, “It’s a date, Belladonna, tea and lunch date”

 

“It’s a date,” Blake’s heart could have soared straight out of her chest, her voice sounded more than elated, “And speaking of dates, I think a nice warm shower is calling us as well,”

 

Blake didn’t notice how awfully she worded it up until Weiss blushed furiously bumbling incoherent words together. Blake gargled, freezing in the instant she realized just what she had implied.  

 

“Y-you can go first of course, I’d go get us some lunch,” she fumbled trying to correct her mistake. Weiss nodded hecticly deciding to pretend she hadn’t taken it in the wrong sense. 

 

“Y-yeah, thank you Blake, I think I’m feeling a little bit overheated, a cold shower would be nice,” she slipped away from Blake’s hold standing awkwardly rubbing her arm. She tugged at Blake’s sleeve causing her to turn back to her, “We can practice some other time together? Right?”

 

Blake lowered her hands from her cheeks as she had been trying to rub the hot embarrassment away for the second time. She grinned at the other, feeling the atmosphere ease up once more. “It would be my pleasure, I still want those pointers for this beauty,” She held up Weiss weapon, before returning it to her owner.

 

“I suppose some more training sessions could be arranged,” Weiss murmured likewise handing back the katana. 

 

“I know a good cafeteria downtown,” Blake suggested, eyeing Weiss hopefully.

 

“Food sounds lovely,” Weiss smiled, her hand rubbing at her stomach, it rumbled a little against it, “Perhaps I could get back at you about my favourite cartoon once I’m sufficiently caffeinated,”

 

“That would be a nice place to start, yes,” Blake laughed offering her hand to the other and was pleasantly rewarded with the warmth of another entwining in her own.


End file.
